Butt says 10-year ban imposed by ICC is unacceptable and shocking
By ANIMonday, February 7, 2011
LAHORE - Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has said that he is shocked at the 10-year ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal.
The independent tribunal, chaired by Michael Beloff, found Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif guilty of charges relating to spot-fixing in the Lord’s Test match between England and Pakistan played in August last year.
In addition, Butt was also found guilty of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code by failing to report an approach made to him by British-based bookmaker Mazhar Majeed to engage in corrupt activity during The Oval Test match earlier in the same month.
“The punishments handed out were harsh. We are innocent and we intend to use every avenue to get the bans overturned. We were not expecting such a verdict from the ICC tribunal and I have said all along we didn’t get a fair treatment or hearing at the hearings,” the Nation quoted Butt, as saying.
“I had gone to Doha with some hopes, but was not expecting I would be banned for ten years it is unacceptable and shocking for me,” he added.
Butt was given a 10-year ban from any involvement in cricketing activities, five years of which were suspended on condition that, throughout that period, he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates, under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in a programme of anti-corruption education. (ANI)
